Just finished sanding and spraying another coat-o-primer... The Rustoleum auto primer does a real good job filling in the crevicssess..sss.... there's lots of sanding involved but it's like meditation for me.

Hi Dave, It WAS fun to build. Scratched from plans found online and wood from a local Michaels craft store ( hardest balsa I've ever seen but we had a coupon )

There is a world wide Ringmaster Fly-a-thon that Jr. and I are going to fly for.. It will be his first solo flight so I'm really excited!! Plus there might be a few other Home Schoolers present so were going to try to get a little flying club started..

The engine I'll be using is a VERY SPECIAL, (almost top secret), "Wescott Aviation Super BabeBee 049". Tim Wescott sent it to me all rebuilt, and tweaked, and ready for action.. It has a not so usual high performance set up ( medallion cylinder) so it's going to be a real screamer (Thanks Tim)

I think he must mean the Fly-A-Thon on September the 31st and 32nd. It's still September, you just have to use the right calendar.

And that engine is not anything special, other than the generosity of the people I got it from. Back when I was in high school I wistfully mentioned the price of engines to one of my cousins who turned out to be rather well connected. He talked to a few dozens of his closest friends, and those that had old Cox planes in their closets coughed up the engines. I've only bought four Cox engines in my life, yet I have a bucket full of them still.

What Fredder has is just random pieces out of the bucket that happened to be clean and flyable.

It will be his first solo flight so I'm really excited!! Plus there might be a few other Home Schoolers present so were going to try to get a little flying club started..

Bring glue. And set the controls to be really insensitive (way in on the handle and bellcrank, way out on the elevator horn). And put the CG at the farthest forward point recommended by the plans (or ask here). And watch your language when the inevitable happens. And confiscate any cameras or other audio-visual recording devices if you do let a word slip out:

I wouldn't worry about crashing or sensitive setups here as the wood used for this plane could only be described as "slightly less than petrified".... The xacto knife I was using won't speak to me anymore... and the little saw I eventually had to use is now missing a couple of teeth... "Rivets!!! that's what we need RIVETS"...

Tim, (all kidding aside) your generosity has come at a very difficult time in my life, you have no idea how special this engine is to my Son and I.. (sniff) You are legendary here Sir!!!

Yes I am a blessed man, even more so, now, among my fellow moodelers...

here's the business end of the PT Ringmaster Speed/Stunt aeroplane.... note the clean lines... the powerful, yet understated Wescott SuperBee 049 powerplant... the fuel proof Cherry red custom paint job by Rustoleum... truly, a work of art....

I don't have a scale so I approach it from this angle.. when I was 8, my very first 049 airplane was a green cox stuka . The 049 engine in it was of the plain sort but it pulled that heavy plastic plane around with authority. Hand launched stuka flights mind you!! It would do wingovers and an occasional terrifying loop.. The planes that I put together don't weigh a third of that fat girl so I'm not worried about too many coats of paint... it actually is only 2.5 coats of paint since I sand down the primer coats to the wood. I've used up to three coats of primer, and three coats of colour with a good wetsanding between colour coats two and three... comes out like glass and the planes fly great.... I do it this way because nitrate/butyr was hard to find around here, and because it's less expensive... A can of sandable primer will do at least 2 planes and the can of color at least three....

"plasti-kote" odds and ends fast dry enamel, spraycan paint is incredible if you can find it!!!

Rustoleum "Gloss Protective Enamel" is. My understanding was that you needed to let it dry for at least two weeks before it was really "there", but I've never tried letting it go for less time.

Rustoleum "Painter's Touch" semi-gloss, on the other hand, softens up a bit with fuel -- I have a nice bright yellow (Gloss Protective Enamel) colored airplane with a blotchy streaky black (Painter's Touch) canopy painted on.

You can use Minwax Polycrylic underneath the Rustoleum as a prep coat for even less $$ than rattle can primer, but it is not fuel proof, so you need to make sure to cover it completely with the top coat.

Dave, Painters touch wasn't available back when I was learnin' bout paints...

I've tried just about every can of spray paint they have at walmart.. these are the test results...

- Regular Rustoleum gloss protective enamel is fuel proof to just about 30% nitro.. though 30% will eventually cause a little paint erosion... keep it in the tank and you'll be ok..

- Silver and clear rustoleum might be iffy.. I haven't used them yet... on deck

- Krylon is not fuel proof. It will go over Rustoleum but not Rustoleum over krylon...

- krylon can be top coated with polyurethane as long as it's not water based it should be ok... still be careful, test spray

I've used "autoair" airbrush paint on a few models, but with a polyurethane topcoat.. worked well, airbrushing is fun

craft paints aren't usually fuel proof, especially the clear...

- The minwax polyurethane will cover krylon as a protective coat and seemed to be fuel proof up to 30% BUT take FOREVER TO DRY!!!

- The $1.00 cans of spraypaint are not fuel proof

- Just a note... Lustrekote has about the same fuel proof qualities as Rustoleum.. I've watched several lustrecoat finishes gradually erode with high nitro fuels.. They seem to do ok with lower nitro content though.. they advertise 15%

Today is the big day!!!! September 31... >> Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon << Weekend is HERE!!!! YAY!!! I went outside and brrrrr.. it's chilly AND WINDY... How windy is it??? Well it's so windy... I put my plane on the ground and it started itself!!!!!..(badumbump)